Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Hi, I'm Crazy

"I'm still a cheerleader -- on a stretcher or not. So as soon as I heard that fight song, I knew my job and just started to do my thing."

-- Kristi Yamaoka, a Southern Illinois University cheerleader, after suffering a concussion, a spinal fracture, and a bruised lung from falling 15 feet in a cheerleading accident. She drew national attention as she was wheeled off the court. When the pep band fired up the school's fight song "Go Southern Go," Yamaoka gave a two-handed thumbs up from the gurney, then moved her arms -- the only things not strapped down -- in time to the music and cheered.